The goal of this interview series is to inspire and help people to transition their career into a new or next experimentation related role. In this edition Eden Bidani shares her journey. Eden is the founder and Head of Strategy & Copy at CAPE agency.
You need to stay focused on results, not on wishful thinking. Because while something might sound good on paper, that doesn’t mean it will translate to a better user experience or better result when it’s deployed in an experiment.
Eden Bidani
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I’m the founder and Head of Strategy & Copy at CAPE Agency.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role? Share your origin story here.
By accident, really. My first major client was a performance marketing agency, so they were testing everything – and aggressively. Multiple versions of each landing page. Multiple versions of ads. Multiple versions of creative. Mixing and matching all of them, gathering results, and trying again. I would write, and rewrite, and write again to keep trying to push results higher with each variation.
And the sheer aggressiveness of their experimentation program significantly impacted the way I approach copywriting. Previously, I’d only worked in more of a branding capacity, where everything had to be “just right” and performance was measured more on how beautiful something looked to the client (and not necessarily by the results it delivered). This was a real game-changer and it cemented, for me, the importance of having a results-first approach to copywriting and messaging. Because it doesn’t matter if it “sounds nice”, if nobody sees it or converts to it, it’s the proverbial tree that fell in the woods with no one around…
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life?
On a personal level I’m trying hard to improve my general health and fitness. So I have been experimenting with a few different bio-hacks and have learned way more about myself than I thought I would. The most significant thing I can say this has taught me is the importance of waiting. It’s no good trying a new exercise routine or changing something in your daily diet if you don’t stick with it long enough to get an idea of what the long-term impact is. Same with running experiments!
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
I stay in touch with a lot of fellow experimenters through LinkedIn and follow their content closely to see what they’re talking about and what new things they’re trying.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
To be prepared to have your ideas trampled on. I’m not kidding. One of the hardest things for writers, for example, is to have their work criticized, because the invest so much of their own selves into their work. But you need to stay focused on results, not on wishful thinking. Because while something might sound good on paper, that doesn’t mean it will translate to a better user experience or better result when it’s deployed in an experiment. So prepare yourself by putting emotional distance between you and your work. That will make getting into experimentation a whole lot easier.
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years? What will stay the same? What’s not going to change in the next ten years?
I’m curious to see where experimentation will go. For it to really be integrated with organizations it needs to become either part of C-level strategy, or get a department of its own. Otherwise it will simply be absorbed by Product or Marketing, which is already happening. But experimentation has the biggest impact on an organization when it’s embedded at the top. So it will be interesting to see how it continues to evolve over the next few years.
Thank you Eden for sharing your journey and insights with the community.
